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Summary

Climate, Sea Level, And Ice Sheets Have Always Changed, and the changes observed today are less than those of the past. Climate changes are cyclical and are driven by Earth's position in the galaxy, the Sun, wobbles in Earth's orbit, ocean currents, and plate tectonics. In previous times, atmospheric carbon dioxide was far higher than at present but did not drive climate change. No runaway greenhouse effect or acid oceans occurred during times of excessively high carbon dioxide. During past glaciations, carbon dioxide was higher than it is today. The non-scientific popular political view is that humans change climate. Do we have reason for concern about possible human-induced climate change?

Author Biography

Ian Plimer, twice winner of Australia's highest scientific honor, the Eureka Prize, is professor in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at The University of Adelaide and is author of six other books written for the general public in addition to more than 120 scientific papers.

Table of Contents

Introduction

p. 9

Climate

p. 10

Carbon dioxide and pollution

p. 12

The science of climate

p. 14

Why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)?

p. 17

Climate change

p. 23

A retreat to the good old days

p. 27

Acknowledgements

p. 28

History

p. 30

Are the speed and amount of modern climate change unprecedented?

Is dangerous warming occurring?

Is the temperature range observed in the 20th Century outside the range of normal variability?